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2 charged in kidnap, assault of Calf. girl, 10

By GREG RISLING Associated Press

Posted:
04/04/2013 02:34:01 AM MDT

Updated:
04/04/2013 02:34:01 AM MDT

LOS ANGELES—The knifepoint kidnapping and sexual assault of a 10-year-old girl started as a burglary, until the suspect apparently changed his mind and took the child from her San Fernando Valley bedroom, police said.

New details in the case were released Wednesday along with charges against 30-year-old Tobias Summers, who remains a fugitive.

Summers was charged with kidnapping burglary and nearly three dozen counts of sexual assault. If convicted, he faces multiple life terms in prison.

His alleged accomplice Daniel Martinez, 29, was also charged in the kidnapping Wednesday. He was in custody after his Monday arrest.

According to police, Summers broke into the house in the middle of the night March 27 while Martinez waited in a getaway car. Summers emerged from the home with the girl and they both got in the car.

Martinez drove a short distance and then abandoned the vehicle and disappeared. Summers took the girl to a vacant home nearby where he held her captive, police said.

At some point, according to a criminal complaint, Summers sexually assaulted her and forced her to pose for nude photos. The girl turned up about 12 hours later after the harrowing ordeal, disoriented and disheveled.

Police Cmdr. Andrew Smith said it was unclear why Summers abducted the girl but investigators don't believe he had targeted her when he initially went to the home.

Martinez was charged with one count each of kidnapping and burglary. He faces a maximum 12-year prison term if found guilty.

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A phone message left for deputy public defender Robert Kayne was not immediately returned.

The girl was snatched from her bedroom and was found wandering near a Starbucks about six miles away. She was barefoot, had bruises and scratches, and wasn't wearing the same clothes she had on when she vanished.

Both men have had problems with law enforcement in the past. Summers has a criminal record dating back to 2002 that includes arrests for robbery, battery and grand theft auto. Court records show Martinez has been convicted of burglary and grand theft.

Police have received more than 130 tips in recent days regarding Summers, who they believe may have fled to San Diego or Mexico and changed his appearance by shaving his head.

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